31 May 2009

BLOG INDEX: Sept 2008-May 2009

This is a list of everything posted since the blog started in September 2008.

It's updated at the end of each month, and you can access direct links to each one by clicking HERE or from the monthly lists on the left.

MAY 2009• Ronald Reagan's moving tribute on the 40th anniversary of D Day• Driving a car can make you look younger than you really are• Planning to say 'um' and 'uh'• The ‘delicacy’ of Mrs Clinton’s ‘consequences’ for North Korea• Clinton on North Korea: "There are consequences to such actions"• Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s Oscar acceptance speech• Obama’s nomination of Judge Sotomayor received five times more applause than ‘normal’• Two tips for David Cameron after today’s speech on political change• Bishops' attendance rates and allowances in the House of Lords• Climbing out of the manure?• Since when were Archbishops experts on democracy?• Disputing the meaning of applause• House of Lords expenses: Lord Rees-Mogg on gravy trains• House of Lords expenses• Goodbye from Mr Speaker• What a fine Speaker!• What a poor speaker!• Sky Sports swindle• Is the MPs' expenses scandal a hidden legacy of Thatcherism?• Rhetoric wins applause for questioners on BBC Question Time• Applause for Dimbleby's questions on BBC Question Time• The liveliest Question Time ever?• Why it's so easy for politicians not to answer interviewers' questions - and what should be done about it• MPs expenses claims merely reflect British attitudes towards home ownership• Well, well Wells!• A prime minister who openly refused to answer an interviewer’s questions• UK Speechwriters' Guild• Gordon Brown's interview technique: the tip of a tedious iceberg• Eye contact, public speaking and the case of President Zuma• Chicago!• Weatherization• Notes from a large continent• Are there more longer words in American English than in British English?• Virgin mile-high poetry

APRIL 2009• The Turnip Prize• What’s the difference between a flu 'pandemic' and a flu 'epidemic'?• Oxford professor models jeans• A great source of videos for anyone interested in speaking and presentation• A Tory leader's three evasive answers to the same question• Jobsworthy News: Council official to walk along a path that doesn’t exist• Was Kenneth in Wallanderland worth a BAFTA?• A Labour leader with no interest in spin!• David Cameron's attack on the Budget used some well-crafted rhetoric• Gordon Brown seems to agree that Labour is ‘savage’ and ‘inhuman’?• Poems for St George's Day• Inspiring banking imagery for Budget day from Martin Luther King• Budget speech boredom and television news tedium• When the young Paddy Ashdown surprised himself by the power of his own rhetoric• Obama’s rhetoric identifies with Martin Luther King but appeals to a wider audience• A day when LibDems cheered at being told they all read a broadsheet newspaper• Time for Gordon Brown to say "sorry" to savers• Burnham, Kinnock and the danger of speaking in a sports stadium• Derek Draper – another psycho-therapist who talks too much and listens too little?• A smear that never was• Derek Draper breaks a basic rule of conversation• INTERLUDE• Gordon Brown’s G20 address ignores an important tip from Winston Churchill• Is there an open-mouthed school of acting?

MARCH 2009• Gordon Brown is finding the Jacqui Smith expenses story more ‘delicate’ than he says• ‘The Lost Art of Oratory’ by a BBC executive who helped to lose it in the first place• Another Tory speech that marked the beginning of the end for a prime minister• Rhetorical techniques and imagery in Hannan’s attack on Gordon Brown – edited highlights• Did the media ignore Hannan because they think speeches are ‘bad television’?• Does Daniel Hannan’s attack on Brown tell us what makes a speech memorable?• UK media slowly wakes up to Daniel Hannan’s speech• Media Coverage of Daniel Hannan’s attack on Gordon Brown• It’s time Brown stopped recycling other people’s lines• Daniel Hannan v. Gordon Brown at the European Parliament• Jargon and gobbledygook comedy sketch• Check the fixtures and fittings before you speak• Why haven't the Lib Dems learnt from Obama’s use of the internet?• If Bill Gates doesn’t read bullet points from PowerPoint slides ...• An imaginative innovation in a PowerPoint presentation?• ‘From Stalin to Mr Bean’: putting two parts of a contrast in the right order• How to improve impact by sequence, repetition and a rhetorical technique• Brown’s ‘poetry’ heads up news of his speech to Congress• Unexpected poetry in Gordon Brown's speech to the US Congress• The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation• Gordon Brown’s model example of how to express condolences

February 2009• The day Barack Obama discovered his powers of oratory and rhetoric• How to make reading a slide sound interesting• PowerPoint style presentation continues to dominate BBC News – courtesy Robert Peston (again)• The 'magic' of Oscar acceptance speeches• Does Mrs Clinton really know someone everywhere she goes?• Personality cult as an antidote to tribalism?• Kenya holiday reading

JANUARY 2009• Mirror, mirror on the wall, whose is the fairest democracy of all ?• Rhetoric and imagery in President Obama’s inauguration speech• The good news from the House of Lords• Memorable lines in President Obama's inaugural speech?• The great camcorder con-trick• Obama’s inauguration rhetoric won approval for some uncomfortable messages• Rhetoric and applause in Obama’s inaugural speech as a measure of what the audience liked best• A line I don't want to hear in today's speech by President Obama• The enduring challenge and importance of funeral orations• Has talking the economy down become a dangerous self-fulfilling prophesy?• Kate Winslet ignores Paul Hogan’s advice to award winners• Slidomania epidemic contaminates another BBC channel• How would Obama's rhetoric and oratory sound from a London back street?• Clinton, Palin and the legacy of Margaret Thatcher• Margaret Thatcher and the evolution of charismatic woman: Part III. The education of a female orator• Margaret Thatcher and the evolution of charismatic woman: Part II. ‘ The Iron Lady’• Margaret Thatcher and the evolution of charismatic woman: Part I. Cultural and vocal challenges• “May we bring hope” – 30 years since Margaret Thatcher took office as Prime Minister

DECEMBER 2008 • Ready made words for Mr Obama from a previous president’s inaugural speech• Neutrality in the Queen’s Christmas speech• What did Santa say before “Ho, ho ho!”• You don’t have to be Barack Obama to use rhetoric and imagery• High-risk practical joke for an office Christmas party speech• End of year poll on PowerPoint presentations• Obama’s rhetoric renews UK media interest in the ‘lost art’ of oratory• Gordon’s gaffe explained• The Office Christmas Party Speech: roads to failure and success• The Queen's Speech, 2008• Rhetoric, oratory and Barack Obama's 'The Speech', 2004• "There's nothing wrong with PowerPoint - until there's an audience"• What’s in a place name?

NOVEMBER 2008• Content-free sermon by Alan Bennett• 50 years since Peter Sellers recorded his memorable political speech• Talking the economy up• Talking the economy down• Why lists of three: mystery, magic or reason?• Tom Peters: High on rhetoric but low on content?• Bobby Kennedy nearly got it right about Obama• ‘Reliable sources' on where Obama’s 'Yes we can' came from• Will there be any ‘rhetorical denial’ from the Obama camp?• The Queen’s Speech: an exception that proves the ruler• Rhetoric & imagery in Obama's victory speech• Not Clinton, not McCain but Obama• How the BBC handled one complaint about Ross

OCTOBER 2008:• Another BBC News Slideshow• Don't put the clocks back• BBC Television News: produced for or by morons?• Experience and inexperience in presidential campaigns• Presidential debates – tedious television but better than commercials• A secret of eternal youth?• PowerPoint Peston• Hair today, win tomorrow: baldness and charisma• Pesky Peston?• ConVincing Cable• 'Mature, grown-up and statesmanlike' at the lectern

SEPTEMBER 2008:• Cameron takes to the lectern in a crisis• Objects as visual aids• Powerpoint comes to church• Mediated speeches -- whom do we really want to hear?• Wisdom of forethought?• Time for Cameron to surf applause?• Did Gordon Brown take my advice?• Eternity, eternity and eternity• More tips for Gordon Brown• Tips for Gordon Brown's conference speech

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WELCOME to a blog about speaking and communication

Some of what I write gets published and some doesn't, but here you can see samples of both. If you'd like to know more about what I do, click the link to the Atkinson Communications website below, where there are also links to everything posted on this blog in the first few years since it started.